Party With Your Characters:

I was watching a great interview Neil Gaiman did with the PEN/American Center. (Full link here. It is a bit long, but worth it.)

When he was asked about his process for creating characters, he had this to say:

The only thing that’s important to me about my characters—and especially important about villains—is that I want to spend time with them. I might not wanna do what they do, but if I met them at a party, I would not be bored.

Honestly, the “Meeting Them at a Party” rule is a really good rule for any kind of character creation. If I met this person at a party, would I want to stay and talk to them, or would I say, “Just gonna go and get something from the kitchen…” and flee? It was the rule I came up with halfway through a novel by somebody who I won’t name, because she’s an incredibly fine novelist. I was halfway through this novel, and I suddenly thought, “You know, if I met any one of these people in any kind of social context, I would do everything I could to get away from them. Why am I voluntarily sitting here with them?” That was the very first book I ever stopped reading halfway through; I don’t want to be with these people.

So that is my main rule for characters, and for villains.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? How important is it for you to relate or potentially socialize with your characters? Likeable or unlikeable, good or evil, do you characters bore you? How does your opinion of your characters affect your narrative, if it has any effect at all?

I don't necessarily think about whether I would want to spend time with my characters at a party, and I think that if that was literally what was meant, it would be a pretty ridiculous measuring stick of character value. I do, however, agree wholeheartedly with what I think was the more general point Mr. Gaiman was making - the most important thing you want your characters to be is interesting.

How does your opinion of your characters affect your narrative, if it has any effect at all?

Now this, I do have strong feelings on. I am decidedly against letting one's opinion of one's characters impact the story in any way. From my strong Watsonian point of view, I get the idea that the writer should think of themselves as a chronicler of "real" events - in other words, I Just Write the Thing. This means that your opinion of your characters should not affect their fates any more then your opinion of some historical figure should be able to change the past.

From a less philosophical standpoint, either overtly liking or overtly disliking a character, and letting that come out in the work, tends to lead to poor writing - for instance, see The Wesley. I therefore think it's best to try and leave your feelings about your characters out of writing altogether. Let the readers decide for themselves.

That doesn't mean you can't have favorites among your characters - but don't let that influence the work in any way. And, of course, your characters can and should very much have opinions about other characters in the work. Just keep them distinct from yours.

Personally, that wouldn't work for me, since I'm a socially awkward type who doesn't enjoy parties. I'm probably that guy people would do anything they could to get away from. For me, I think a better strategy would be to imagine myself getting trapped in an elevator with another character and having no choice but to make conversation.

Over all, I don't need to imagine a scenario in which I am forced to interact with another character to know if they're a character worth writing about. If a character is entertaining for me, I would just enjoy watching them from afar in their own natural habitat. Basically, if I have a good time writing them in their story, then I know I've got a good character.

It's not supposed to be taken as, "Can you hold court with your hero and those other two guys over a bowl of chips?" It's, "Do you find your characters interesting enough to invest time to write and read for them?"

Personally, my opinion of my cast is very important to me. I do not, mind you, play favorites, judge them in the text, or let what I think and how I feel affect the direction of the story. Nevertheless, if I realize a character is uninteresting, unsympathetic, or unfit for a role, I take them out. Sometimes I demote them, alter aspects of their personalities, or delete them entirely.

Well, if we're talking that kind of "meet your characters", then I wouldn't want to meet even my characters from comedies anywhere. It's hard to imagine a fictional character who wouldn't have some inclination to Rage Against the Author, really.

I dunno. I'd be interested in the short term, but a lot of them would annoy me. Ignoring the one character, I know all of my character's flaws. I know what makes them grind against other people's nerves. I know why other people don't like them.

I'd probably be more annoyed with quite a few of them in the long run, but maybe that's just a sign of me being a horrible writer.

Then again, that could just be me. I am more likely to be bugged by people than I am to blindly like them. Maybe that's why I suck at characterization.

Again, I think the general point is "Do you find your characters interesting?" If he actually meant that good characters are literally those you'd want to meet at a party, then that would simply be ridiculous.

As far as main characters go, yes. I don't have many 'villains', exactly, but there are quite a few characters that I would definitely not enjoy spending time with. They might be interesting, but that doesn't make them likeable.

Be not afraid...

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